Fenders?!? Who needs fenders? Mud is therapeudic...

We took a little longer trip up through the Indian Bend Wash green belt in Scottsdale. We started from the same place, but went all the way up to Shea Blvd. We have intentions this coming weekend to go from Tempe Town Lake up to the same place (that first trip was about 18.5 miles, the second will be close to 26). And though it hasn't been raining here, they do water the greenery in the the "green" belt.

We had the opportunity to run through several puddles -- nice, dirty puddles -- those kind that have collected all the dust, smog, and other goodies out of the air, sidewalk, and surrounding undergrowth. And of course, I was riding behind my lovely wife on her bicycle.

There I was, getting hit in the center by the gork being kicked up by her wheel, and getting hit on the shoulders and arms by my own two front wheels (which obviously are in front of me). The bright, yellow shirt you see in photos below became bespecked with splotches ranging from light brown to coal black in a varity of sizes. My pants suffered the same fate.

I guess if you were to go cross country in a tadpole, fenders (and a face plate attached to the helmet) might not be a bad idea. I mean, mud is one thing, but there might also be rocks and other junk kicked up by passing bikes and cars (so far, I have been fortunate in this regard and have not been hit by such debris).

"Could you hold that sun a little higher please..."

I went and bought a helmet cam and tried it out on a 13-mile roundtrip jaunt to the ASU campus from my house. I won't bother to post the video (or even portions of it). Though the camera was mounted properly on the helmet (I'll comment on that a bit more later), cycling in a recumbent means your head, and so your helmet, is tilted back a bit more than a "normal" cyclist. As such, I had an hour's worth of video of tree and telephone pole tops and the bright blue sky. And the mounting mechanism that came with the camera for helmets consists of a small plastic fixture (into which slips the camera), a rubber pad between that fixture and the helmet, and a velcro strap (that goes into the head space of the helmet). Not real secure or steady.

The next time out, I mounted this small helmet cam on a "boom" of sorts made from PVC pipe fittings hooked together and forming a platform on which to hook the camera (with one of the many mounting devices it came with). This boom was tightly affixed to the frame of the trike and rose above my head and helmet. We used this for the first time going through the ASU Research Park in south Tempe. Again, I won't bother to post the sped up video here either. The camera kept drifting to the side (so most of the scenary is as if you were looking out of a car window). And, even when straightened out, we were out late in the afternoon and as such, the sun was low on the horizon and continually got into view, washing out the view (showing up as a black circle surrounded by bright light).

I was also a bit disappointed by the quality of the video (even when just walking around with it in hand and taking video). Granted, the camera is ruggedized to withstand hitting the ground and bumps and such for off-road cyclists, and, if you fall into a lake, can take pictures to up to three meters under water, but still, the 640x480 resolution seemed a bit blotchy. I have seen video taken with this type of camera before and thought it would be better than this. Maybe it's just my setup or maybe I got a "bad" camera. What I am thinking now is to expand my PVC pipe fittings mount to allow me to attach my regular digital camera (the one I held by hand as I took the video posted elsewhere on this blog).

I will give the camera one more try on my helmet, tying it down in a more secure manner (yet to be figured out) and angled farther down in front so when I am riding reclined, it is looking straight ahead or slightly down as well.

Now the only problem is, if I do start using it on my helmet and getting good video, how can I disguise it so I don't look like I am wearing Marvin the Martian's helmet...?

Long and Winding Roads

We've been looking for bike paths that we could use that would be interesting and safe at the same time. We've now visited two of these "multi-use" paths. They are paved, striped paths for walkers, joggers, and cyclists (and probably any other non-motorized means of transportation).

The first of these is the Indian Bend Wash green belt located in Scottsdale and the northern part of Tempe in Arizona (see the map at right). The "Over Twelve Miles and Climbing" entry below shows a short video view of part of this path.

One can start on the north side of Tempe Town Lake and ride north all the way to Shea Blvd in Scottsdale. This is about 12 miles one-way (so an easy 20-mile round trip). There are various parks and parking lots along the way where you can start, stop, and rest (so you can go from just a couple miles up to a goodly distance). Several of the parks have "facilities" for quick pit stops.

The second path we found is located in Provo, Utah. We were there dropping one of our sons off at the LDS MTC and stayed in a small inn that backs up to one of the multiple paths found in the city. The picture shows the path from the back of the inn. It runs from Utah Lake (to the west) all the way up through Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. Be aware that the altitude in Provo is around 4500 feet, so if you are use to lower altitudes (like we are in the Phoenix area at around 1100 feet), it might be a bit of an exercise to do the same distances up and down the grades on this route that can easily be done at lower altitudes.

The circled area on the map below shows where the photo was taken.